Governor outlines more local government reforms

Fresh off a strong re-election win this fall, Daniels unveiled a 20-point government reform package Friday he hopes to push through the General Assembly starting in a few weeks.

Daniels' proposal -- based largely on the 2007 blue ribbon "Kernan-Shepard Commission" -- would do away with school districts of fewer than 1,000 students, and consolidate all library districts at the county level.

The governor also wants to replace county boards of commissioners with a single county executive officer, who would then have the power to appoint the county assessor, recorder, surveyor, coroner and treasurer.

Daniels renewed his proposal to eliminate township government. In defending the move, he gave a special shout-out to Lake County, where voters this fall opted to keep six township assessors, nearly half the 13 such offices that survived statewide referendums.

Most Hoosiers believe township government is obsolete, Daniels said.

"The vast majority of them passed," Daniels said. "If you take Lake County out -- and it is a different sort of place, as you know -- then the percentage of those referenda which passed was overwhelming."

A package of proposed legislation will be introduced in the Republican-controlled state Senate, where leaders have agreed to take up the issue of local government reform while the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives shoulders its responsibility of crafting the state's biennial budget.

Daniels said all his proposals will likely be bundled in about three pieces of legislation.

He acknowledged state legislators, many of whom got their starts in local government and count local officials among their friends, could be reluctant to do away with elected offices.

"It might be a problem," the governor said.

But he cited a Ball State University study that estimated $630 million in statewide savings if the full package becomes law, and said Indiana's precarious financial situation dictates immediate action.

"It is because resources are going to be so tight that we cannot afford not to make the changes that will both protect taxpayers and improve the quality of services to the citizens of our state," he said.

Daniels empaneled the Commission on Local Government Reform, chaired by former Gov. Joe Kernan and State Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall Shepard, in fall 2007 during a period of shock at skyrocketing property taxes around the state.

The General Assembly took up some recommendations this spring, doing away with many township assessors and transferring the funding of child welfare programs from counties to the state, among other moves.

Now Daniels said the rest of the package has had enough time to percolate. But issues remain.

State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, accused the governor of overlooking charter schools in his definition of small, inefficient school districts.

"We have, in effect, nine school corporations within Gary, and there isn't any accountability," Smith said.

He also said a single elected county executive officer will never work in an area as populous and diverse as Lake County.

Reactions

Replace county commissioners with one executive

A single elected Lake County executive will not work as a replacement for the county's board of commissioners, according to a pair of geographically and politically divergent local officials.

Gov. Mitch Daniels made the statewide change in county government a cornerstone of the local government reform package he unveiled Friday.

"There are not three CEOs in any company I know of, there are not three commanding generals in any army I know of. There are not three governors," Daniels said in explaining why the three-member county executive board is a flawed construction.

But State Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, said Lake County's different constituencies need different representation.

"Maybe this would work in a small county, where the population of the whole county is the same as the population of Gary, but it won't work here," Rogers told the Gary Chamber of Commerce at a recent meeting.

Lake County Republican Chairman John Curley had a similar take.

"If we had one executive in Lake County, we would never have anyone in the south end looking after us," Curley said.

Change election cycle to save money on balloting

Daniels is pushing a change to Indiana's election cycle, which would mandate municipal elections be held in the same even years as county and state election.

The governor contends it would cut costs and increase participation.

Lake County Republican Chairman John Curley agreed with those thoughts, and added another.

"It would probably cut down on the musical chairs," Curley said.

Too often, officials run for one office, then jump ship for something more lucrative or powerful before the term is up, Curley said.

"If it was all on the same schedule, people would be more likely to stay put," he said.

More appointments equals fewer elected officials

Lake County Recorder Mike Brown decried Daniels' plan to remove his post and those of county assessor, surveyor, coroner and treasurer from ballots and make them appointed positions.

"When did we the people decide not to vote?" Brown asked.

Daniels argues the offices are clearly administrative, so there is no need to bring politics into them.

But the five posts would be filled by an elected county executive officer under Daniels' plan, Brown pointed out, which would keep them indirectly politicized.

"I'm very uncomfortable with the idea that whichever party is in control of the county executive would also be in charge of these positions," Brown said.

"If people don't like the official, they should be able to vote that person out."

Two too many health departments in Lake County

Daniels' legislative reform package has one component aimed solely at Lake County: He wants to eliminate municipal health departments and consolidate the services at the county level. And there are only two such local health departments in the state, in Gary and East Chicago.

"East Chicago and Gary are the only remaining communities where taxpayers pay for two departments and receive the service of one," a state report on the Daniels' initiative reads, making the case that people in the two cities help subsidize both the Lake County Health Department and their own.

Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. recently eliminated the health department in his city. Gary Mayor Rudy Clay wants to keep his health department open, reasoning it is too difficult for his constituents to make it to Crown Point to the county health department.

Fold smallest school districts into larger ones

Daniels' plan to consolidate small school districts won't be a good fit for one of Northwest Indiana's smallest school systems, says Whiting Superintendent Sandra Martinez.

School districts with enrollments of 1,000 students or fewer would be consolidated into larger neighboring districts, if Daniels manages to pass a sweeping agenda of government cost-cutting measures he rolled out Friday.

Whiting schools, with a combined enrollment of 839 students, would likely end up folded into the districts in neighboring East Chicago or Hammond.

But Martinez points out her district's costs are comparable to those districts, and their test scores and graduation rates are better.

"There's an assumption that you're going to save money, and maybe you would in a rural district,"?said Martinez, whose district is the only one in Lake County at risk of consolidation under Daniels' plan. "We compare favorably to (East Chicago and Hammond). You can look at our cost per student, but if you calculate our cost per graduate, it's much better."

Consolidate local library districts into county districts

Daniels calls for countywide library districts to replace separate library districts, and library taxes, in individual communities, a move that would cut costs and enhance library services for underserved rural areas.

In his remarks, Daniels singled out one district that spent more than $73 in administrative costs for each book checked out. That district was East Chicago. But Library Director Manny Montalvo said that figure represents library costs from several years ago, before the district shed some 90 employees and trimmed the budget from $5.2 million to $3 million.

The district provides a number of branches and outreach centers, which Montalvo said are necessary. "For the population that is underserved, in the long run the state is going to be better off having (library) facilities," he said.

In Lowell, library director Sandy Morgan has been leading a campaign to block consolidation. More than 1,800 people have signed a petition opposing consolidation. The library maintains a main location and branches in Shelby and Schneider, and runs a tight budget.

"We don't have a lot of debt, and we've been frugal," Morgan said. "The consensus here, from our board and our patrons, is that we want things to say the way they are."